MPs crack down on binge drinking

MPs have voted to ban open bars – the practice of all-you-can-drink for a set fee.

They have also banned the practice of all-you-can-drink offers in connection with any sort of promotion.

Fears for the future of wine tasting events, which fall under the same principle, were quashed when special exemption was made for dégustations, foires, fêtes and stages œnologiques.

Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot said she wanted to tackle binge drinking in France, especially among young people but insisted she did not want to create a “society of prohibition and abstinence”.

The amendments were made as part of a health bill Hôpital, Patients, Santé et Territoires currently under debate.

On Monday MPs will debate a further measure to ban alcohol from service stations.

Current rules allow alcoholic drinks to be bought and taken off the premises between 22.00 and 6.00 except on the motorway.

Exceptions are made for wine-producing regions, where customers are allowed to drink wine with a meal in a service station restaurant.

Those in the wine industry fear that stricter legislation may harm their trade.

MPs are also expected to relax a ban on advertising alcohol on the internet.

The health minister has said she would like to see the ban relaxed but MPs remain opposed as to the way to do this.

While there is no law directly banning online advertising the Loi Evin, which stipulates where alcohol can be advertised, was drawn up in 1991 before the internet became a popular public medium and does not include it on the list.

In February 2008 Heineken fell foul of this law, causing MPs to examine a change.

Photo: Ruxor